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Monday, August 5, 2002 |
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• Verizon trials broadband wireless technology • All West rolls out bundled
services • Listen.com deals to put Rhapsody in the home • RioLink taps Gemini Voice for IP telephony • AtomFilms in cable deal with Comcast • L.A. gives Adelphia time to fashion deal Verizon trials broadband wireless technology Verizon Communications is testing the broadband wireless waters in Northern Virginia through a field trial with BeamReach Networks. Verizon is trialing BeamReach's broadband fixed wireless technology, which is designed to deliver speeds up to 1.5 megabits per second up to five miles from the system's distribution antenna. Verizon hopes to determine whether BeamReach's technology will complement and extend its DSL service reach, which is limited to residences and businesses within 18,000 feet of a CO. "If this new technology works as designed, we can greatly expand the availability of Internet access and other products to our customers," says Mark Wegleitner, Verizon's chief technology officer. "We are testing the technology to examine its ability to provide our customers with the same functionality, quality of service and reliability of the current copper-wire based product," he says. Fifty Verizon employees in Fairfax County are trialing the technology at their homes. Later this year, 50 Verizon customers will be added to the mix. Verizon decided on Fairfax County to test the non-line-of-sight technology because the landscape has a variety of terrain and foliage, and is densely populated. Two base stations, which are connected to Verizon COs via fiber-optic circuits, have been placed in cellular towers in Herndon and Centerville Depending on the outcome of the trial, which is slated to run until the end of the year, Verizon will consider a wider deployment to customers in 2003. Last November, the FCC has granted BeamReach an experimental license in the wireless communications service (WCS) band to conduct trials of its broadband wireless access systems throughout the continental United States. Verizon owns an equity stake in BeamReach. Related story:
All West rolls out bundled services
Telco All West Communications is competing head-to-head with its cable counterparts in the digital entertainment space, and has turned to Next Level Communications Inc. to try and get a leg up on its closest competitors. The Utah-based telco is using Next Level's VDSL platform to offer its customers the triple play -- voice, video and data -- over its existing copper wire infrastructure. The full-service access platform enables All West to bundle digital TV, high-speed Internet access and voice services and charge customers on a single bill. Since rolling out the bundled service, All West has had a 70 percent take rate. The telco competes with AT&T Broadband and Adelphia Communications Corp. "All West represents an example of how the Next Level platform enables telcos to compete with cable operators, not only on a service level, but on a business level, " says Geoff Burke, Next Level's director of marketing. "The bundle -- a single bill for voice, video and data services -- is compelling for a user," he says. Next Level's equipment is composed of three pieces of hardware: a residential gateway, a remote terminal unit and a broadband digital terminal, says Burke. Unlike many other residential gateways, Next Level's gateway is designed so that one set-top box can service an entire home, regardless of the number of televisions in the home. The USAM, or Universal Services Access Multiplexer, is a remote terminal that manages the delivery of services in a given neighborhood. While the BTD, or Broadband Digital Terminal, aggregates the delivery of the feeds from the entertainment networks and telephony systems. All West says it has the ability to install the bundled services to eight customers a day. The company expects to turn a profit on video services in less than two years. In May, Next Level announced the commercial availability
of its Next Level BSAM, or Broadband Services Access Multiplexer.
The BSAM is designed to bring VDSL speed and throughput in a relatively
small form factor for application in densely populated area. When
plugged in to the Next Level Full Service Access Platform, the BSAM
can support 144 separate households, each receiving 26 Mbps of bandwidth
enabling three concurrent streams of DVD quality video, and as much
as 7 Mbps of high-speed Internet access. Related stories:
Listen.com deals to put Rhapsody in the home Home networking gear provider NETGEAR Inc. is teaming with Listen.com to tout broadband entertainment services in the networked home. The partnership will enable NETGEAR customers who purchase the company's Platinum Family of networking products to trial Listen.com's Rhapsody digital subscription service for 30 days, free of charge. During the trial, which kicks off this fall, customers will have access to more than 15,000 music albums. The Platinum Family line of products includes a router, switches, DSL modem Internet gateway and powerline bridges. NETGEAR says future releases in the product line will be based on wireless networking standards. Last week, Listen.com inked similar distribution deals with DirecTV and Road Runner. The deals will enable DirecTV Broadband and Road Runner subscribers to use Rhapsody for free as a promotion during the month of August. The Rhapsody service gives customers access to 185,000
tracks of on-demand music or programmed Internet radio stations.
If customers want to customize, they have the ability to build custom
radio stations with music from their favorite artists.
RioLink taps Gemini Voice for IP telephony ISP RioLink Ltd. has announced plans to begin a full market rollout of voice-over-IP telephony using a Gemini Voice Solutions Inc. service in its New Mexico service area. RioLink plans to market Ip telephony services in conjunction with its high-speed wireless DSL service. The company expects the additional service offering will help boost revenue by leveraging its existing high-speed infrastructure. The decision to launch in New Mexico comes on the heels of technology trials in which RioLink tested Gemini Voice's technology and service products, which includes carrier-class all-distance telephony, back-end services and support systems, a proprietary softswitch/call management server and customer premise equipment, dubbed the Gemini Gateway. Although financial terms were not disclosed, RioLink says it will offer the voice-over-broadband services to its residential and business customers. Last week, the company announced SwitchPoint Networks Inc. had completed a 90-day trial of the Gemini Broadband Voice feature-rich, "any-distance" telephony service over its digital switched data network. Related stories:
AtomFilms in cable deal with Comcast
John Healey In an unusual leap from the Internet to television, AtomFilms is expected to announce today that its collection of short films and animations will be offered this fall through Comcast Cable Communications Inc.'s video-on-demand service in Philadelphia. The deal is the first deployment to be announced for AtomTelevision, a joint venture between AtomFilms -- a subsidiary of San Francisco-based AtomShockwave Corp. -- and Global Media Holdings, a New York-based creator of cable TV programming. Mika Salmi, chief executive of AtomShockwave, said AtomTelevision hopes to have several more video-on-demand deployments this year and to distribute a 24-hour digital cable TV channel next year. The initial deal will be five one-hour packages of films and animations that Comcast will offer free to subscribers who sign up for its digital cable service. In the late 1990s, a slew of entertainment companies brought original programming to the Web, hoping it could be a low-cost proving ground for their characters and story lines. The idea was to build an audience online, then take the programs to a more lucrative medium -- television, for example, or feature films. But when advertising rates plummeted and Internet stocks tanked, many of these companies collapsed too. AtomFilms survived largely because it merged with Shockwave, whose downloadable games have proved to be a steady source of cash, Salmi said. AtomFilms has deals with about 10 distributors, including mobile phone companies and Internet providers. Its films and animations have appeared sporadically on HBO, Showtime and the Sci-Fi Channel, but the AtomTelevision initiative is aiming for a more steady presence on cable TV. "It will be interesting to see what crosses over" from the Internet onto TV, Salmi said. The company may try to rescue some of the programs developed by defunct dot-coms, he said. "There's a lot of great stuff that people have made but never really was seen." AtomTelevision is negotiating with several of the top cable operators
but hasn't won any distribution deals for its cable TV channel. Related stories:
LA gives Adelphia time to fashion deal
The city of Los Angeles has granted bankrupt Adelphia Communications a 45-day extension on its cable TV franchise, which was set to expire Friday, a City Attorney's Office spokesman confirmed. Provisional agreement, which must be approved by the City Council, gives the two parties some extra breathing room to hash out a longer-term deal for the future of Adelphia's 230,000 L.A.-area subscribers. The Coudersport, Pa.-based cabler has been feuding with the city for several years over the amount of franchise fees owed under the agreement. According to the City Attorney's Office, an audit shows that Adelphia came up $3.3 million short in its payments between 1996 and 1999. But Adelphia claims that the deficit is closer to $2 million and demands an audit of the city's audit. Friday's agreement requires Adelphia to put $2 million in an escrow account against the disputed payments while the precise amount is negotiated. Once the company's 45 days are up, Adelphia and the city will hash out a new deal lasting between three and six months, as well as a timeline for a long-term settlement, the spokesman said. Also, part of the pact is a guarantee that service to LA subscribers will not be interrupted, and that Adelphia will offer rebates and free upgrades to compensate for any past service hiccups. Adelphia filed for bankruptcy earlier this summer. Related stories:
• LodgeNet delivers more to Hilton Hotels LodgeNet Entertainment Corp. has extended its master services agreement with Hilton Hotels Corp. to add television-based Internet access and time-shifted TV programming to the list of digital interactive services it delivers to participating Hilton hotels. Prior to the expansion of the agreement, LodgeNet delivered digital on-demand movies, music, games and other interactive television services. The companies also have agreed to dissolve their joint venture, dubbed InnMedia LLC. The joint venture was formed in October 2000 to deliver interactive television services to the lodging industry. LodgeNet has agreed to pay Hilton Hotels Corp. six payments over time at a total value of roughly $9 million. The deal enables LodgeNet to independently pursue and develop interactive television content. • Korea Telecom turns to Redback Korea Telecom has selected Redback Networks SMS 10000 platforms of subscriber management systems to roll out new services, including web-content filtering, to its ADSL customers. Korea Telecom and Redback have worked together since 1999. • EchoStar sets eighth satellite launch EchoStar Communications Corp. will try once again on Aug. 20 to launch its EchoStar VIII satellite from Kazakhstan. The satellite originally was scheduled to launch on June 22, but a problem with the command receiver delayed the launch. Once in orbit, the satellite will provide Ku-band and spot-beam services over the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii.
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